


My Life As A Weapon

by jyuzo



Category: Hawkeye (Comics), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, Circus, F/M, Growing Up, M/M, Orphanages, Over protective siblings, but haven't we all done that?, laura's not his wife in this, reference to physical abuse, spoilers for Age of Ultron, well they do pretend to marry when they're children
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-06-01
Updated: 2015-06-02
Packaged: 2018-04-02 09:55:35
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,780
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4055677
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jyuzo/pseuds/jyuzo
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which Clint grows up</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Beginning

“Get in here, dinner’s ready!”

A shrill, but welcome voice rung out throughout the farm. Clint gave the large pig one last pat, and then began to make his way to the farmhouse. Life on the farm was the only life he knew, but it was great and Clint Barton loved it. His love of animals had begun when he was only tiny, and it had progressed ever since.

“Here boy!”

Clint whistled, and then, seemingly out of nowhere, a golden dog appeared and was bounding towards the small boy. Clint grinned and rubbed the dog’s neck.   
“Hey, we’ve gotta go in. It’s dinner time.” he explained to the dog. The dog, of course, could not possibly understand him, but it was nice to have someone to talk to.

“Clint, did you wash your hands?” 

Clint looked up at his mother and grinned sheepishly. “Not yet, sorry.”

He ducked under her arm to get to the sink, and began to lather his hands with soap.

“Is dad gonna be here?”

Clint and his mother both turned around to see Barney standing in the doorway. Their mother looked at him for a moment, looking thoughtful.

“I’m afraid not dear. Work is keeping him for the moment.” she said.

“But he’ll be missing the super potatoes!”

Edith Barton couldn’t help herself – she snorted at the earnest expression on her youngest son’s face. “How about I make even more ‘super potatoes’ when he gets back, and we can have them twice?”

Clint’s eyes widened. “Yes.” was all he managed to say.

Honestly, the smallest things pleased her boys. ‘Super potatoes’ (more commonly known as mashed potatoes) were a guaranteed way to make her children happy. And it was definitely worth the extra mashing and peeling to see smiles on their small faces.

“Barney, could you get the plates down?” she asked.

He happily complied, and Clint set about getting the cutlery out of the drawer at the same time.  
……………

With chicken and potatoes piled up on plates, the hard work was done. All farm tasks for the day were completed, and now the Barton family just had to wait for their father to return from a business deal or whatever he was doing in town.

“More carrots?” their mother asked.

Both boys nodded eagerly and were rewarded with yet another spoon of carrots. Mrs Barton’s cooking was to die for. 

“So, can we stay up, or what?” Barney asked, deciding to try his luck.

“I really think you should go to bed. Your father’s not due home for a bit, but you’ll get to see him in the morning.” She reassured her sons.

Clint nodded and then looked at Barney, who was looking as though he might try to argue. Clint stuck out his hand and pulled Barney towards the stairs, acting as the silent voice of reason. Some people might find it strange, but the younger brother was generally more mature and managed to put some sense into his big brother’s head sometimes.

“Night! See you in the morning.” Clint called to their mother. Barney was busy grumbling something about being old enough to be up until the same time as his parents, but neither Clint nor his mother paid any attention to it.

“And I’ll see you two as well. And your father. Sleep well.”  
………………………………

It was late, and both Clint and Barney were still up.

“Y’know, I’m kinda glad dad didn’t show.” Barney whispered.

Their father still wasn’t home, but they felt it better to be quiet about these things.

“Me too.” Clint replied in a small voice.

It was true that their father had had to go to do business with someone in town, but certainly not until this hour. He had more than likely stopped off at the local bar with his business associates, and was getting drunk out of his mind. He was out there having the time of his life, while his wife and two young children were left alone in the farmhouse.

“You still remember what I told you?” Barney asked.

Clint nodded, before realising that they were in a dark room. “Yeah.”

“If he does come back tonight, and is being scary, go up to the attic.” Barney said anyway, wanting to keep this information drilled into his little brother’s mind.

“What about you?”

This question came up every time Barney reminded Clint of the rules. “I’ll be fine. You just worry about yourself, because that gives me one less thing to worry about.”

Clint accepted his brother’s logic, and never questioned it. And Barney was just grateful that their father never left marks where clothes couldn’t cover.

“We should probably try to sleep.” Barney said, breaking the silence.

“Okay. Night, Barns.” Clint whispered.

“Sleep tight, Clinty.”  
……………………………….

Around two hours after the boys had managed to drift off to sleep, they were rudely awoken by loud banging from downstairs.

Both boys looked at each other, and then listened.

“Edith, sweetie, come here.”

That was obviously their father, his voice sounding slurred even from their bedroom.

“No, Charles. Not tonight. The boys are sleeping.”

Clint and Barney heard the sound of something breaking. Their father had more than likely knocked over the lamp on the table downstairs. That was a shame; their mother loved that lamp.

“But honey, you look so pretty. I was thinking about you all day.”

Charles Barton sounded as though he was becoming increasingly agitated as time went on. 

“Barney, what should we do?” Clint asked, his voiced laced with worry.

“Shh, shh. There’s really not a lot we can do right now. It’s usually better to just let dad vent for a bit. He’ll be back to normal in the morning.”

Barney himself didn’t look convinced, and Clint even less so.

“Okay then.”  
………………………….

The arrival of morning was announced by the loud cawing of the family rooster. Clint stretched his arms above his head and shook a little. It was a normal morning.   
Across the room from him, Barney Barton was yawning and looked over to his brother. “You ready to inspect the damage?” he whispered.

Clint just nodded and slid out of bed, following his big brother.

So the lamp had met its demise last night, Clint noted from where he stood at the top of the stairs. He didn’t particularly care for the lamp, but he hated the fact that it was lying in bits on the floor. It confirmed that their father had arrived home last night drunk, and that he had confronted their mother. It made Clint sad.

While Barney and Clint were standing by the lamp, their parents were making their way down the stairs. Their mother saw Clint looking at the lamp.

“Oh, be careful sweetie! I forgot to clean up after myself last night. I just bumped into it.” She said, smiling at him.

Clint narrowed his eyes briefly, but then smiled back at her. If she wanted to keep up the pretence that they were a happy family, he would do his bit and play along. Sometimes it really was amazing that he was only ten years old.

“Anyway, your father and I need to go to the town for a little while. He made a deal last night and we’ll be getting a new calf. Isn’t that exciting?!” she said enthusiastically.

“Are you going right away?” Barney asked.

She nodded.

“But we’ll be back. Don’t break anything and make sure to feed the pigs.” Their father said, the first words he had spoken all morning.

The brothers walked their parents to the door to wave them off. “Bye!”

Barney closed the door behind them. “Okay, we do our chores first, but then we get the afternoon off! How does that sound?”

“Awesome!”  
……………………………..

The boys spent the afternoon in a happy haze. The sun was bright in the sky, there were no parents to tell them to stop, and Lucky the dog had joined in. They were running about the farm, having a good time.  
……………………………

It got dark slowly, so Barney ushered Clint back into the farmhouse.

“Why aren’t they back yet?” Clint asked, looking to his brother for guidance.

“Must be a pretty big calf!” Barney joked in an attempt to keep the mood light.

Clint wasn’t satisfied. Their parents had never left them alone for this long.

“We should probably go to bed. Give them a good surprise when they get back. Us in bed without even having been told.” Barney said.

Clint nodded. The two of them settled down for the night and fell asleep surprisingly fast.  
……………………………

Barney woke up to find a small body wrapped around his waist. He smiled gently. Clint must have gotten scared in the night, so had crawled into his bed. It was like old times.

Barney’s movements had also woken Clint. The younger boy sat up and looked confused for a moment, then seemed to realise everything all at once.

“They didn’t come home last night, did they?” Clint asked quietly.

Barney shook his head. “Maybe they decided to stay over with the calf?” he suggested.

They both sat in Barney’s bed, taking in their situation and the sunlight that was coming in from the window. A loud knock on the front door surprised them both.

“It’s them!” Clint shouted. He ran down the stairs, but waited for Barney to open the door. Clint wasn’t to open the door on his own, and he definitely didn’t want to disappoint his mother when she had just gotten in. Barney opened the door.

Two men in dark suits were standing on the porch. “Are you the Barton’s?” one of them asked.

“Yeah, I’m Barney, and this is Clint.”

“Are your parents Edith and Charles Barton?”

“Yes.” The confidence in Barney’s voice was gone. It was clear that he was thinking exactly what Clint was thinking.

“I’m terribly sorry to have to tell this to you, but your parents were both killed last night in a collision.”

The brothers stood in silence before Clint gripped onto his brother and broke down. Barney had to stay strong, if not for his brother but for himself.

“How?” he managed to get out.

“We believe that your father, who was at the wheel at the time, was driving under the influence. He lost control and hit another car. It was all very sudden.”

The two men watched the brothers, before one put his arm around Clint.

“We really hate to have to do this, especially at this time, but as we could find no living relatives, you’ll have to come with us.”

Clint looked up at the men through his tears. “Go with you where?”

“Well, for now, the local children’s home. But we’ll be looking for foster carers as soon as we can.” The men motioned for Barney and Clint to follow them to a car that was parked in the drive. They all got in and sat in silence.


	2. The Home

Okay, it became clear soon enough that the stories they had heard about the orphanage were mostly made up. Both boys looked around the empty hallway in confusion. Where were all the blood stains that supposedly covered the walls? And were there really going to be eyeballs in the fruit bowl? The brothers hoped for the best, and so far, it wasn’t too bad.

The two men who had come to their door lead them inside and stopped before a small office. They didn’t have to knock, as the sounds of their shoes against the floor alerted whoever was inside of the office, as the door began to open.

“Right boys, I’m going to leave you with Miss Green. And don’t worry, she’s lovely.” One of the men said to the pair, who were looking at him with big eyes.

“Okay, Clinton and Charles, let’s get you settled right in. Obviously everyone else is asleep, but you’ll get a chance to meet them in the morning. And they are all very lovely.”

Miss Green was one of those people. A person that, no matter how hard you tried, you could not hate her. She smiled a genuine smile at the boys, and radiated a mix of warmth and sympathy towards them. 

The children were, of course, still upset, but for now they were mostly curious about what was happening. Miss Green handed each of the boys a plastic bag which contained various things.

“Sorry if we got the sizes a bit wrong, but these pyjamas will hopefully do for the night.” she explained.

Miss Green led the brothers to a set of stairs, where she waved off the two men who had driven them to this place.

“I’ve got it from here, don’t you worry.” She smiled at the men.

“Okay then, Clint, Barney, we’ll be in touch in the morning. Try to get some sleep now.”

They followed Miss Green as she went up the stairs and into a small room. It was pretty bare, but had two beds in it, which was all the boys could ask for right now.

“Right, so if you need anything, just let me know. I’ll probably still be in my office.”

She left them to it, and they pulled the clothes out from the bags.

“You want the dinosaur ones?” Barney asked, holding up a small-looking shirt with ‘Dino-Cool’ written across the front.

Clint took it and handed over his own shirt, which was covered in pictures of various smiling bugs.

They both got changed, and then when Barney had just gotten into bed and turned off the lights, he felt his brother get in beside him.

“You okay?” he asked.

“Yeah.” Came the quiet reply. Clint was pressed against his back and was shaking slightly. Not wanting to embarrass his brother, Barney said nothing, just starting stroking his brother’s hair softly. 

“It will be alright, you know? I promise to look after you.” Barney vowed.

……………………………  
The morning arrived, but much later than it normally did. The boys didn’t wake up for a couple of hours after they usually did, mostly down to the fact that there was no rooster.

The situation seemed to suddenly sink into Clint. “Barney, we left Lucky.”

“What?” Barney asked groggily.

“Lucky, we left him on the farm. He’s on his own!” Clint shouted.

“Oh God, yeah. I’ll go and tell that woman.”

Barney pulled himself out of bed and made his way to the hall. He was pretty glad that his little brother had stopped his crying, and that he was focused on other things than what had happened. Thank God for Lucky.

………………………….

“Come in.”

Barney pushed the door and came face to face with Miss Green.

“Do you need something?” she asked, voice slightly less cheerful than it had been last night.

“Our dog. Lucky. He’s all alone on the farm.” He explained.

“I see. Well, I’m afraid that we can’t have animals in the house. One of the boys is horribly allergic to them.”

Barney looked at her. His little brother was going to lose his dog too?

“What’ll happen to Lucky then?”

“We’ll see what we can do. There’s a local animal shelter that’s not too far from here. You could still visit him.”

“Yeah, that sounds good. Thanks.”

Barney left the office.

………………………

Clint was, despite everything that had happened, having a great time. He had met the other children for the first time, and they had accepted him right away.

“Oh, that’s Barney!” he said excitedly.

The other children turned to the doorway where Barney was indeed standing.

“Barney, this is Laura! And this is Sam.” Clint pointed out to his brother.

Laura and Sam waved at him, and Barney waved back. Most of the children here seemed to be around Clint’s age, but Barney did see a couple of older children standing against one of the walls.

“Me and Laura are going to get married.” Clint said.

“Really? Already?” Barney asked, smiling. He was glad that Clint seemed to be improving.

“Yeah. But it’ll be good. I’ll be nice, and so will she.”

“I’m sure you will be. When’s the wedding?”

Clint laughed and so did the girl beside him, Laura.

“You missed it! We got married at breakfast!” he said gleefully.

“Oh dear, I missed my own brother’s wedding? I’m hurt that you would do it without me!” Barney said jokingly.

If Clint was happy and distracted, there was no need to bring up poor Lucky’s fate. 

“Don’t worry; I’ll invite you to the next one.”

“The next one? But now you’re married to Laura. You need to be with her forever.” 

Clint and Laura looked at each other. “We’ll sort something out.”

Barney left them to it.

**Author's Note:**

> I have tried to keep things some form of canon, but it's hard. There are so many versions of Hawkeye! Anyway, if you have any criticisms, constructive or not, I would love to hear them. Hope you enjoyed!
> 
> Also, sorry for the lack of characters in this chapter, I promise that they are coming, but for now, I kinda want to get the story started.


End file.
